The AftermAth
by wonderland-bliss
Summary: Sequel to Pretty Little Witches of Hogwarts. The summer before their third year of Hogwarts, Alison mysteriously disappears one night after inviting the girls to keep her company at her brother's party. One year later, the girls realize they didn't know Alison as well as they thought as they are targeted by a mysterious tormenter called "A". Main story set in their 4th-7th years.
1. Prologue

**Hello everyone! As a heads-up, Please read my other story, Pretty Little Witches of Hogwarts, before starting this one. This is a sequel and I wouldn't want anyone getting confused! But for those of you that followed the other story, the sequel has arrived, my darlings! Enjoy!**

**I don't own PLL or Harry Potter, just this plot and any original characters!**

* * *

"Welcome, my darlings," Alison Dilaurentis greeted her four friends at the front door of her house. "You've missed this place, haven't you?" she smiled wistfully at the group as they piled in one by one, remembering the last time they had all spent time at her mansion the summer before their second year.

"We've definitely made some memories," Emily agreed, while the others merely nodded in agreement.

Aria immediately remembered reading spooky wizard story myths in the Dilaurentis library and hoped they would get to do so again; Hanna, on the other hand, remembered helping Mrs. Dilaurentis bake cookies while Ali and Spencer had an argument in the living room; Spencer recalled Ali threatening to tell her parents about her Quidditch hobby while threatening her in return to expose her crush on Ian (although she was unaware that Ali had gone much further than just an affair); Emily as usual had the best memory, recalling them playing one-on-one Quidditch in the makeshift Quidditch pitch in the backyard, which ended with them sharing a passionate kiss on the ground.

"Want to meet my brother's stupid friends before we go up to my room?" she smirked mischievously.

"Why are they stupid?" Emily asked curiously.

"You'll see in a minute," she laughed, leading them to the patio in the backyard, where they were immediately greeted by obnoxious laughter, things being thrown everywhere and lots of wrestling.

"Ian's the one with brown hair," she pointed to the incoming seventh year, who was doubling up in laughter over something Jason had said, "but I think you already knew that, didn't you? But who knew he had such nice…_muscles_?"

She sent a flirty wink at Ian, who drunkenly waved back. When Melissa, who had been rolling her eyes at the boys' drunken behavior, turned around, the four other girls waved back at her to cover up for Alison.

"The one that looks like me is Jason," she gestured to the newest Hogwarts alumnus who had also turned his attention to the girls, focusing mostly on Aria, who gave him a shy wave in acknowledgement.

"Best friend's brother, eh?" Alison gave Aria a cheeky smile.

"I was being polite!" Aria said innocently.

"Then why are you blushing?" Hanna gave her friend a smirk of her own.

"Because he's cute, obviously!"

"Careful, Aria," Alison said teasingly. "You don't want them _too _much older. People might think you're a _whore_."

"You're one to talk," Spencer interjected.

"What was that, Spence?" In a matter of seconds, an icy glare formed upon her heart-shaped face and her joking disposition turned defensive.

"All I'm saying is that you fancied older guys before any of us ever did," Spencer clarified calmly.

"Of course," Ali said coolly, dropping the subject.

"Who's the third guy?" Emily pointed to a guy with tan skin, dark hair and beady brown eyes.

"Only the biggest arsehole to ever walk the face of the planet," the blonde girl replied. "That's Garrett Reynolds, a year older than Jason."

As though on cue, Garrett turned his gaze toward the girls in a beady, menacing gaze.

"Let's go upstairs," Alison suggested quickly before returning his glare.

"Creep," Emily whispered in his direction before following the rest of the girls into the house.

* * *

"Why let all the boys have the fun?" Alison said, locking the door of her bedroom and taking out a thin glass bottle from the front. "We're teens now, for Hogwarts' sake!"

"Is that firewhiskey?" Emily's mouth opened in surprise.

"What else would it be?" the blonde smirked, unscrewing the lid. "I stole some from Jason while he wasn't looking. Pumpkin juice, anyone?" the youngest Dilaurentis poured pumpkin juice into four red plastic cups before adding a few milliliters of firewhiskey into each one.

Emily backed away hesitantly. "I think I'll pass."

"Backing out of the fun _now_?" Alison pouted in mock-sadness. "We were just getting started!"

"It's alright," she shook her head. "I've heard it tastes bad, anyway."

"Just a few drops, I promise," she assured her. "You're still my favorite. I wouldn't let anything bad happen to you. You know that."

Spencer and Aria looked at her with raised eyebrows, Hanna in confusion, as Alison remembered that she still had an audience.

"I forgot I had an audience," she let out a loud laugh before raising her cup. "To being thirteen?"

"To being thirteen," the four girls chorused, taking big gulps of their drink.

Emily winced at the burning sensation in her mouth despite having the lowest dose in her cup; Aria grimaced for a moment before swallowing; Spencer and Hanna both seemed the least affected by the alcohol and had taken an additional sip afterwards.

"We should take a sip for every year we've been born," her eyes twinkled as she took another large gulp.

"I don't think we'd have enough to do that," Spencer said uncertainly, measuring the dimensions of the glass. "The volume of this liquid allows for six or seven more at most if we keep going at this rate."

"Then we should pour some more, obviously." Ali proceeded to refill their cups with pumpkin juice and add a tad more firewhiskey to each cup.

_Knock, knock, knock_.

"Alison?" Mrs. Dilaurentis called.

The blonde-haired, green-eyed Slytherin jumped at the sound of her mother's voice, quickly shoving the bottle of stolen firewhiskey under her bed.

"Yes, Mum?"

"Some mail arrived for you just now," she said, handing her daughter a magenta-colored envelope.

"Isn't it a bit late for post?" Ali asked, suspicious. If she were sober, she would've gotten a sinking feeling at the pit of her stomach, but seeing the color of the envelope made her head spin instead.

"I don't know, but you better open it," Mrs. Dilaurentis shook her head. "It's been glowing in the kitchen for the past hour."

Feeling slightly buzzed, she took the letter from her mother's hand with a smile before closing the letter behind her.

"You should open it, Ali," Aria suggested with a giggle. "Maybe it's from Ian!"

"Shh!" Spencer hissed. "Melissa's still here, you know!"

"Should I?" Despite feeling slightly buzzed, her fear was still evident to those who knew her best. Unfortunately for the other girls, however, she hadn't let them in on the loop. "Oh, who am I kidding?" she waved her hand in the air and ripped open the letter.

"Happy?" she held it up in the air until the letters started burning through the page, at which point she quickly hunched over it to prevent the other girls from reading it.

_Five little liars in the same basket! You're making this too easy for me. They're next! XOXO –A_

Alison didn't have to be drunk to remember that A was still on her tail. She weighed her options carefully. Ideally, she would've rather ignored it and enjoyed her company, but the last time she ignored it, Draco Malfoy almost burned his hand off and she would've met the same fate, had Pansy Parkinson not come to her aid.

"Could someone hand me a piece of parchment?" Alison looked at the four girls. "It's in that drawer over there." She hazily pointed to the top drawer of her side table.

Emily quickly rushed to her side with a parchment as she quickly scribbled a reply and folded it as quickly as she could. She whistled for her black and brown barn owl, Snuffles, to deliver her reply before turning back to the girls.

"Who was it?" Spencer asked curiously.

"Malfoy," she lied. "Just saying hello, that's all."

The next morning, Aria, Spencer, Hanna and Emily slept soundly on Alison Dilaurentis's bedroom floor. Remnants from the previous night were very much evident; her night table drawer still remained open, their cups were sprawled across the floor in different parts of the room, and empty bottles of pumpkin juice stood against the chest at the foot of Alison's double bed.

Spencer was the first to wake up. With a soft groan, she rubbed her lower back and got up, examining her surroundings.

"Ali?" she whispered, stepping over the still sleeping girls, checking if Ali had fallen asleep in a different part of her large bedroom.

She hesitantly opened her walk-in closet. "Alison?"

No response.

Her bed was still neatly made from the night before, Spencer noticed. _That's weird. It's as if she were never there_.

Her worst fears were realized when she peered around the rest of the mansion – the kitchen, the dining room, the lounge area, her patio and backyard – and still found no sign of Alison.

"Have you seen Alison?" Spencer breathed, walking in on Mrs. Dilaurentis making breakfast in the kitchen halfway through her second round of the house.

"She might be in the library," her mom suggested. "She likes to read first thing every now and then."

Of course. Why hadn't she thought of that before?

She sighed in frustration as Alison wasn't in the library like her mom had suggested and resignedly trudged back into Alison's bedroom, hoping she hadn't accidentally woken Jason up.

"Spence!" Aria came up to her in a bone-crushing hug. "Where have you been?"

Spencer looked at the ground, pursing her lips together, trying to figure out the best way to break it to the others.

"Spencer?" Hanna came forward this time, a concerned frown spreading on her face.

"She's gone," she whispered.

"What?" Aria furrowed her thick eyebrows.

"Who?" Emily asked frantically.

"_Ali_," the tallest girl's voice broke. "I've looked everywhere for her. She's gone."

* * *

**And so begins our mystery! As we know, Ali has been targeted by "A" since the end of Pretty Little Witches of Hogwarts, and it looks like "A" got to her again! While she was with her girls at that! This can only mean trouble for the rest of our little Liars as well. Stay tuned! **


	2. One Year Later

**And as promised, here is chapter 1! For those of you that have been following me from my first story, I'll be doing two new things with this sequel: one, the chapters will be named (minus the prologue and epilogue); and two, they will now be a little longer, since the girls will be interacting with each other more. The story officially begins now, and we are in the summer before their fourth year. Each of the following sequences are happening at more or less the same time frame, around the Quidditch World Cup part of HP and the Goblet of Fire. Enjoy!**

* * *

**HOGWARTS STUDENT ALISON DILAURENTIS'S BODY FOUND FIVE KILOMETRES OUTSIDE OF WILTSHIRE.**

_At approximately twenty-three hundred hours last night, the body of esteemed Ministry official Kenneth Dilaurentis's daughter was found by a middle-class Muggle family just outside of Wiltshire. Based on Muggles' observations upon finding her body, experts report that her body has been dead for nearly a year by the time she was found. Ministry detectives are in the process of determining her cause of death, but they have "absolutely" ruled out the Killing Curse. Anybody with potential leads is asked to report to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement immediately. You will be compensated for your efforts._

* * *

"I can't believe this," Aria shook her head, listlessly dropping the Montgomerys' copy of _The Daily Prophet _on the coffee table. "They finally find her, after a whole _year_, and she's…_dead_?"

"I know, sweetie, I know," Ella joined her daughter on their brown, worn-in leather sofa, wrapping her arms around her and allowing her to lean into her.

"How could someone do something so horrible?" she sobbed. "Just take away someone's life like that?"

"You don't know the whole story," she said, rubbing her daughter's back. "What was it you told me before? Sometimes she knew you better than you knew yourself…"

"Yet sometimes it feels like I didn't know her at all," Aria finished. "Yeah. Sometimes I felt like she wasn't telling me everything, like she didn't trust me. But I still miss her."

"Of course, hon. She was your friend. Have you talked to the others?" Ella asked. "Maybe you could all plan something before you go back to school."

"We haven't really talked since...that night," she shook her head, referring to the night that Ali had mysteriously disappeared. "We've kind of drifted. We were already starting to, anyway, but still."

"What about Spencer?"

"It's hard not to talk to her, I suppose," Aria shrugged. "But she spends most of her time with Hermione Granger now. I guess she needs someone who's as school-and-book-loving as she is."

"Really? I thought they didn't get along well." Ella raised her eyebrows.

"I guess they made amends," she shrugged.

"What about Hanna? And Emily?"

"Hanna's the most popular girl in school," Aria sighed. "She and her friends. She's like the new Ali but…nicer, I guess. More people like her than they did Ali."

"And Emily?"

"Busy with Quidditch. Something I could never get into no matter how hard I tried."

"You have Noel," Mrs. Montgomery reminded her. "You can't complain about _that_."

"That _is_ true," Aria smiled at her mother mentioning her boyfriend of nearly a year. Shortly following Ali's disappearance, she and Noel had gotten closer, despite her previous claims of only liking him as a friend. She had succumbed to her conflicting feelings over him from second year and had since become the envy of more than half the girls in their year. "Where's Dad?"

"Out with Mike," she said. "Why?"

"And they didn't invite _us_?" she wondered aloud.

"Oh, he did," she nodded. "It was my idea, actually, but I didn't want to leave you here alone while the three of us went to the World Cup."

"Dad? Watching Quidditch?" Aria laughed at the idea of her father trying to wrap his head around a Wizard sport. "He can hardly understand _football_."

"I know, it doesn't make sense to me, either," her mom laughed with her. "But he'll have Mike with him, so he should be fine."

"What _doesn't_ he know about Quidditch?" the short, dark-haired girl rolled her eyes with a smile.

* * *

"Did you guys see the _Prophet _today?" Hanna Marin asked her two best friends as she explored a Muggle fashion store called Topshop for the first time. The only shopping she'd ever done was with her mother in Diagon Alley, and she was relieved to have found a new style of clothing, thanks to Hannah Abbott.

"Oh," Hannah remembered her best friend's complicated relationship with Alison Dilaurentis. "Of course..."

"I know it's weird, being upset over somebody who treated me horribly," Hanna stifled a few tears as she fingered through a sale rack, "but…"

"No," Susan cut her off. "That's perfectly normal. She may have been a rotten friend to you, but she was still a friend. It would be rather heartless of you to not feel anything at all."

"Susie's right," Hannah agreed. "It's perfectly alright. We're here for you, you know that."

"Of course," Hanna smiled as Hannah suddenly whipped out her camera and spontaneously took a picture.

"What was that for?" she laughed.

"Hanna's first Muggle shopping trip," she laughed. "That's what."

"Are you ladies doing alright?"

The three girls turned to see a tall teenage boy of about sixteen with shoulder-length brown hair and chocolate colored eyes coming up to them after straightening up the folded clothes on a nearby table. He was clad in a simple red plaid shirt with a black v-neck underneath, straight jeans and black and white Converse shoes.

"Yes," Hannah answered. "My friend here is visiting for the first time, so I'm making her feel welcome. Want to help?"

"Hannah!" Hanna hissed as her friend responded with a cheeky smile.

"_What_?" she whispered back. "He's rather _dashing_, don't you think?"

"I think he heard you, Abbott," Susan cut in, and the two blondes went quiet in an instant. They both knew that whenever Susan called them by their last names, she meant business.

"Alright," he laughed. "My name's Caleb if you need anything."

"Hear that, Hanna? His name's Caleb."

"I am _not_ deaf, okay?" Hanna laughed.

"Shut up already and find stuff to try on," Susan crossed her arms. "He's never going to get anything done if you two keep giggling like daft bimbos over there!"

"No, no it's fine," he waved his hand. "It gets boring folding clothes all the time, anyway. It's people like you that make this job a little more interesting."

"Oh, _really_?" Hannah raised her eyebrows, a twinkle in her blue-ish grey eyes. "_Caleb_," she began.

"Yes?"

"Do you think she'd look better in magenta or navy?" She held up two ruffled tops against Hanna's chest while throwing a flirty smile in his direction.

Hanna silently gave Caleb an apologetic look for her friend's obnoxiously flirty behavior, but he didn't seem to mind at all, surprisingly to her disappointment.

"Can't go wrong with either one," he shrugged, stealing a glance at Hanna, which she returned, before self-consciously walking away.

"It's up to you now, Hanna," Hannah giggled.

"We'll try them both," she decided, casting one last glance in his direction as she followed her friends to the fitting rooms.

There was something appealing about him, something _compelling_, but she couldn't quite figure out what it was. She did promise herself one thing, though. If she ever saw him again, she would definitely work up the courage to talk to him and find out for herself.

* * *

"How can they not know what caused her death?" Spencer Hastings angrily slammed the _Daily Prophet _down on the table.

"I'm sure they're working on it," Veronica Hastings assured her daughter. "Knowing them, they probably have some ideas, but they don't want to publish anything without being absolutely sure. I have no doubt that Kenneth would absolutely not allow it any other way."

"You're better off without that girl, anyway," Peter added. "Look at this as a blessing in disguise…"

"Peter!" Mrs. Hastings glared at her husband in disapproval.

"I never wanted you around that girl, anyway," he continued, disregarding his wife's comment. "Look at this as a punishment for your disobedience, as well as an opportunity to get those grades of yours _up_."

"Dad!" Spencer protested. "One 'Exceeds Expectations' is not going to kill me! Besides, Potter was the only one who pulled off an Outstanding. Not even Granger pulled one off!"

"Can't hurt your chances if you're the Chosen One, I suppose," he shrugged, still disappointed in his daughter.

"I actually _learned_ in Defense Against the Dark Arts for the first time," she said excitedly. "It was much more enjoyable than memorizing facts straight out of the book or getting tested about how much I knew about the Professor's personal life." She fumed at her lack of learning from Lockhart the fraud.

"She has a point, dear," Mrs. Hastings stepped in. "Wouldn't you rather her studies were actually fruitful instead of her getting 'Outstandings' without learning a thing?"

"She's never going to be Head Girl at this rate," he shook her head. "She'll be lucky if she's even a Prefect. You've disappointed us enough already, Spencer. That _Mudblood_ is going to beat you at the rate you're going."

"That _girl_," Spencer said, purposely not repeating the degrading term, "is my friend. She rubbed me the wrong way in the beginning, yes, but I've never seen somebody work so hard. Not to mention _she _doesn't do it to impress anybody but _herself_."

"Give her a break, Peter," her mother pleaded. "I, for one, am glad Spencer is finally learning something in Defense Against the Dark Arts. After what happened at the World Cup today…"

"She has nothing to worry about," Peter cut in, protectively placing a hand over his right forearm. "That was…a false alarm…"

"Really?" Spencer narrowed her eyes at her father. "Then why did you come home so abnormally late last night?"

"I'd like to know the same thing," Veronica crossed her arms. "I thought we agreed you would never bring our family into this again…"

"Fudge had some extra work for me to do," he said apprehensively before making his way quickly up the stairs. "Now if you'll excuse me, I should get going on that."

"Hi Mum," Melissa came in through the front door, closely followed by Ian.

"Hello, dear," Veronica greeted them, "how was the match?"

"Good," Ian nodded. "Sorry we're late; we stopped by the pub afterwards and she stayed with me for the night."

"I'm glad you two are okay after that incident," she referred to the Dark Mark that had mysteriously been shot into the sky.

"Of course," Melissa nodded, while shooting a glare at her younger sister. "I see you read the paper today."

"Don't get me started," Spencer crossed her arms with a glare rivaling that of her sister's.

"She got what was coming to her, Spence," a borderline cruel smile crept across her face. "You can't be surprised she met her end the way she did. _I_ personally didn't foresee it any other way."

"Enough, Melissa," their mother stepped between them, before turning to Ian. "Thank you for getting her back safely."

"Always a pleasure, Mrs. Hastings. Spencer," he nodded with a smile that sent shivers up Spencer's spine.

* * *

"Emily," Pam Fields looked at her daughter sympathetically as she brewed her some fresh tea. "I know it's tough, losing a dear friend, but I'm sure Alison wouldn't want you wallowing in pity over her like this."

"You don't understand, Mum!" she sobbed. "I've never met someone like her before; someone who _understood _me!"

"I'm sure there are plenty of other great people out there," Mrs. Fields assured her daughter.

_Nobody like her_, Emily wanted to say_. I'll never meet anyone like her again. She was one of a kind._

"Take this as an opportunity to make some new friends. Branch out a little. Which reminds me; how's Dean doing? And who won in football yesterday?"

"Football?" Emily looked up her mom in confusion before remembering that she had said she was going to the Manchester United vs. Liverpool game when she really went to the Quidditch World Cup.

She and Dean had been spending more time together since the middle of their third year, bonding over their Muggle parentage. Many of the Gryffindors were even rooting for them to become official, including Toby. Dean was a great guy; she had no doubts about that. He was always a gentleman, always respecting her and never pressuring her to do anything she didn't want to. Several reliable sources (Toby included) had reported to her that Dean had fallen head-over-heels for her and was just too scared to tell her directly. But no matter how hard Emily tried to reciprocate his feelings for her, he just couldn't fill the hole that Alison had left in her heart, and it would break her own heart to have to let him down.

"With Dean!" her mom laughed. Her mother already disapproved of her playing for the school, mostly for safety reasons, and she knew there was no way in hell she would be allowed to go to a Quidditch match. Luckily for her, Dean Thomas was also Muggle-born, so their lie was very much plausible.

"Right," she nodded with a smile. "It was good. Liverpool won."

"Fantastic," Mrs. Fields smiled politely. "He sounds like a nice boy. Will your father and I get to meet him before you go back to school?"

"Sure," she shrugged. "I don't see why you'd need to, though. You can't control who I spend time with since I'm in Hogwarts most of the year."

"We could easily pull you out anytime," Mrs. Fields reminded her daughter. "Don't forget that. Even if we can write to you, I still worry about you _constantly_. It's not easy for us, coming home to your empty bedroom every day. And we're just curious as to what the people are like over there," she reassured her. "You have nothing to worry about."

"So you won't put him under a microscope the way you did for all my friends in primary school?"

"I might ask a few questions out of curiosity, but otherwise, no," she shook her head.

"I'm surprised you're more interested in meeting him than Toby," Emily commented. "Toby and I have been best friends since first-year."

"Is that so?" she raised her eyebrows.

"Mhmm. He's really brought out the best in me."

"I'm glad to hear that. Nobody's giving you a hard time at all?"

"There used to be a few," Emily thought back to Mona, Jenna and Pansy taunting the five of them back when they used to be a group, "but they picked on everyone, so I never took it personally."

"That's good," another nod. "If it ever gets out of control, you know we're only a letter away."

"Thanks, Mum, but I'm fourteen, not nine," she said gently.

"Oh, I know," she sighed. "It's just so easy for me to forget, you know, with you being away most of the time." She wrapped her arms around her daughter. "Alison would be proud of the girl you've become. Just like I am."

"Thanks," she whispered, ignoring the irony of her mother's statement. If her mother had any clue at all about her ongoing sexuality struggles, she would encourage her to snap out of her "phase"; her mother would be _anything_ but proud, and Emily Fields knew it.

* * *

**So as you can all tell, this chapter was pretty much a catch-up on the girls' lives since the time Ali went missing. Nothing too exciting yet. I'm going to start by addressing some things I will probably get asked: Just because Noel and Aria are currently dating doesn't mean Ezra is out of the picture! He ****_will _****be in the story, I promise! And that will not be the last you'll see of Caleb, either. Maya isn't here yet, but her time will come, just wait! Now onto my chapter commentary, Aria's scene was greatly inspired by the PLL pilot, with a Harry Potter twist. I decided to skip Hanna dating Sean altogether, but you might see a few surprises in her story down the line. Now onto Spencer, I know Spencer's parents are both nut jobs in both the PLL books and the show, but for this story, I will try to distinguish them a little more when it comes to their parts. For this story, her mom is more understanding and supportive (but still pushes her), and her dad is, well, her ****_dad (_****a heartless creep and asshole in every way). I hope I am doing Emily's storyline justice; I chose Dean Thomas as the push toward her eventually coming to terms with her sexuality because I figured they would bond over their Muggle parentage and interest in football (I decided to use the European term for soccer since Harry Potter is British after all!). Thanks for all your support!**


	3. She's Gone, Yet She's Everywhere

**Same disclaimers apply.**

* * *

"Welcome, welcome," Albus Dumbledore's warm, husky voice boomed throughout the Great Hall. "I have a few announcements. First off, I would like to take a moment to welcome Professor Moody as your new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor."

Polite rounds of applause rang throughout the whole school.

"What's with his eye?" Aria whispered to Noel, shuddering at Moody's wandering eyeball. "It's a bit creepy. I don't know how I'll survive class with him."

"That's what _I'm_ here for," Noel put his hands over her eyes, causing Aria to burst into a fit of giggles.

"Hey," a sixth-year Prefect with short brown wavy hair popped his head between the two. "Keep it down, will you? I don't want to take away Points on the first day for disrupting the Headmaster."

"Sorry," Aria looked up at the older Ravenclaw. "That was my fault. We'll be quiet for the rest of the evening."

"Those Slytherins could use the memo more than us, if you ask me," Noel retorted, cocking his head toward the Slytherins, who were engaging in boisterous laughter with Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle.

"Noel!" she hissed. "I was taking care of it."

"And I'm helping," he responded, planting a quick peck on his girlfriend's lips.

"That's for the their prefects to take care of," the older Ravenclaw responded coolly. "Keep it down for the rest of the evening."

"We will," Aria nodded obediently, purposely ignoring how ridiculously attractive the Prefect was before turning back to Dumbledore's announcements.

"I will again remind Prefects to please keep an eye on your younger students at all times; we had too many incidents of students out of bed last year, and we cannot afford anything harm to come to anyone. Which brings me to my second announcement; it gives me great pleasure to announce that we are hosting the Triwizard Tournament this year. Unfortunately, that means we will not have a Quidditch season this year…"

"That's _rubbish_!" Spencer Hastings declared from her seat. "I've been working on my shooting all summer!"

Students from other tables, including Emily Fields, expressed their disappointment, some louder than others.

"The students from Beauxbatons Academy of Magic and Durmstrang will be arriving within the next two weeks," Dumbledore continued, ignoring the students' protests, "and when they do, I want you all to make them feel as welcome as possible. Any further questions can be directed to your Heads of Houses or your Prefects. To conclude my start of term announcements, it is with great sadness that I thrust this last bit of news upon you all. As most of you have read in the _Daily Prophet_, we have lost a fellow student. She was a brilliant witch – excellent marks, known to many students and staff alike. There was hardly a student or staff member who did not know her name. She came from a highly respected family in our wizarding community and would be with you all today as a fourth-year in Slytherin house. It is a terrible, _terrible _shame she was taken so soon. Let us all have a moment of silence…for Alison Dilaurentis."

Alison had a complicated relationship with all of them to some extent – Spencer had even suggested she was bipolar at one point – yet they missed her just the same. The four girls watched as whispers spread throughout the school, mostly gossipers, for about a minute before the Great Hall was completely silent. Her body was not physically present by any means, but her reputation still loomed as if she never left. Despite her cruel, manipulative nature, many still talked about her, and one thing was for sure in Aria, Spencer, Hanna and Emily's minds: Alison would have _loved_ it.

That night, the four girls somberly made their way back to their dormitories: Emily to the Gryffindor Tower, Hanna to the Hufflepuff basement, and Spencer and Aria to the Ravenclaw Tower. Despite having grown apart the past year, they all reacted in remarkably similar ways to their friends' and significant others' attempts at condolences. Emily isolated herself from her house mates, Dean and Toby included; Aria allowed Noel to give her a brief good-night hug before deciding to tune in early; Spencer threw angry glares at Mandy, Holly and Rebecca, who magically started wanting to be her friend, despite having purposely excluded her from their study groups and activities in the past; Hanna, meanwhile, glued herself to her favorite chair in the Hufflepuff common room, not saying a word to anyone, despite the entire House offering her condolences and emotional support.

* * *

"You sure I can't get you anything?" Noel asked his girlfriend, placing his hands on her shoulders.

"I'm sure," she nodded. "I think I'm just going to go to bed."

"Will you at least let me give you a hug?"

"Of course," she laughed a little as he wrapped his arms lovingly around her waist, bringing her against his chest.

"And a kiss?"

"You're pushing it," she gave him a mock-serious face.

"Please?"

Aria smiled. Those baby blue eyes were just _impossible _to resist. "I guess," she smiled coyly as he leaned in to plant a soft kiss on her lips.

"Good night, Aria."

She tossed and turned in her four-poster bed, finding it unusually difficult to settle into a comfortable sleeping position. Part of it was due to Mandy, Holly, and Rebecca's antics with Spencer right next to her, and the other was due to a year's worth of unresolved emotional stress revolving around Ali's death.

She eventually transferred to the living room, staring into the Ravenclaw fireplace. Dumbledore's speech and the article from the Daily Prophet still played in her head like a memory that wouldn't go away, much to her discontent. Meditating in front of the fireplace was supposed to calm her, not rile her up!

"Glad to know I wasn't the only one who couldn't sleep."

She looked up to be greeted by none other than Spencer Hastings, clad in a light blue fleece night robe and fluffy pink slippers. Aria gave her old friend a small smile, scooting over on the couch to make room for her.

"How could I? It's all anyone's ever talked about these days. Ever since those Muggles found her body…"

"I know," Spencer nodded. "She's been gone for over a year, yet it's like she never left. How have you been holding up?"

"Alright, I guess," the petite brunette shrugged. "Noel's been great about it…"

"Of _course_," she teasingly rolled her eyes.

"Really, though. He has," she said earnestly. "He doesn't ask so many questions like everybody else does. My family's been great, too. They just left me alone until I was ready to talk about it."

"Wish I could say the same about mine," Spencer said with a sigh.

"I'm sorry to hear that," Aria sympathetically gave her shoulder a tight squeeze.

"Don't be," she shook her head. "You know my family; all about _image_ and _perfection._ The fact I was a friend of Alison ruined their 'perfect' image somehow, but they'd never tell me why. Let's just say my dad's happy she's gone."

"That's horrible! What did your mum say?"

"She didn't like Ali any more than he did," she shrugged. "But at least she isn't openly rejoicing the way my dad has been."

"That's good," Aria nodded before yawning. "I think I'm going to go up to bed."

"I should probably do that, too," Spencer got up, readjusting her robe. "Otherwise I'm not getting any sleep tonight. It was really nice catching up with you."

"Definitely. You too, Spence."

* * *

"Can't sleep?"

Emily woke up from her brief nap in the Common Room with a start, her eyes automatically turning to the stairway to see Dean Thomas' tall figure casting a long shadow toward the scarlet red couch.

"You scared me!"

"Sorry," he laughed. "Mind if I join you?"

"Go for it," Emily sat up to make room for him on the couch.

"It must be tough," he said, taking a seat near the right armrest. "Having people ask you how you're feeling all the time when you've just lost someone close to you."

Emily gave him a small nod. "I've never met anyone like her. She…_understood _me…so much better than anyone ever has. She made me feel like there was just me, and no one else mattered. She meant the _world _to me." She paused to hold back tears. "I…I _loved _her."

"I see," the dark-skinned boy responded with a nod before letting out a sad sigh. "So I guess there's no hope for us, is there?"

"What?" Emily turned to face him for the first time since he had joined her. "What do you mean?" She knew exactly what he meant, but she was hoping to avoid the topic altogether.

"Well, I mean, I've been trying to figure out how to tell you this," he began. "I was hoping it wouldn't be like this when you're still not quite yourself, but since you asked, I guess now will have to do…"

"No, it's fine," she shook her head. "Go ahead."

"Alright then," he took a few nervous breaths. "You've probably noticed by now that I like you…a lot."

"I guess," she shrugged. "A lot of people told me, but I just played it cool because I wasn't sure if it was true or if they were just trying to play match-maker."

"Ah."

"You're a great guy, Dean," she smiled. "You've always respected me, you've never judged me for being close to Alison, and we can talk about anything." Emily paused. "But the thing is, for a reason I can't quite explain, I…don't feel the same way about you."

"I had a feeling you'd say that," his broad shoulders slumped slightly. "I just wish I'd known sooner so I wouldn't have wasted so much time…"

"It's nothing you did," Emily cut him off right away. "Dean, I promise, you've done nothing wrong. I _wanted _to return your feelings for me so badly, I've tried so hard to, but it just felt so…unnatural. No matter how hard I tried, there was just something missing. I just don't think I'm into guys altogether."

"Oh," he blinked a few times, taking in her words slowly. "So…Dilaurentis was your _girlfriend_?"

"I wouldn't put it that way," she shook her head, shaking away that painful memory. "But she was my first love."

* * *

When Hanna finally unglued herself from her favorite chair, she headed to the place that always made her feel better when she was down.

"What can Winky get for Miss Hanna?" the little pink house elf looked up at the blonde Hufflepuff with a kind smile.

"A butterbeer and treacle tarts would be great," Hanna smiled thankfully at the elf as she sat down at the wooden table in the kitchen. "Thank you _so_ much!"

"Winky is always happy to serve Miss Hanna!" With a snap of her fingers, Winky placed a fresh mug of Butterbeer and a plateful of treacle tarts in front of her favorite Hufflepuff.

Even back in her Alison days, as she liked to call them, treacle tarts were her comfort food. Eating one always made her feel better, especially after a purge. She still ate the same things she used to during those days, but with Hannah and Susan's joint help, she had successfully reduced her food portions to prevent herself from gaining weight again. Her final body wasn't necessarily thin like Alison's was, but rather healthier. She was definitely slimmer than her Hefty Hanna days, but she had gained a healthy amount of curves with legs slightly on the muscular side, a well-defined waist, and broad, defined shoulders, creating an enviable hourglass figure. But she didn't care what everybody else thought, for her happiness came first.

"I thought I might find you here."

Hanna turned to see Ernie Macmillan coming through the round entrance to the kitchen door.

"This is my little hideout, I suppose," she said with a slight laugh. "I come here and have a butterbeer and a treacle tart or two whenever I felt sad."

"I figured," he grinned for a moment before turning serious. "I wanted to tell you this earlier, but you were too distraught, and I didn't want to disturb you. Don't listen to what everyone else is saying. You don't have to answer to them until you're ready. In fact, you don't even have to answer them at all. Alison was _your _friend, and it's nobody's business but _yours_." Ernie took a moment to reach over and grasp her hands in his. "Do you understand?"

Hanna nodded with a grateful smile. "I just wish everyone else would."

"They'll come around," he assured her. "They can't help themselves, really, since it's been all over the _Prophet _for days."

"Alison really knows how to leave her mark," she smiled as a few tears streamed down her cheeks. "She may be dead, but I still feel like she's everywhere."

"I know the feeling. Do you remember that time last year when I wouldn't talk to _anyone_, and you all thought I was mad at you?"

"Yeah," she remembered. "You were quite a foul git, actually."

"My father had just passed away," he replied solemnly. "The man who taught me everything. I didn't tell anybody at first because the more I'd hear people talk about my father, the longer it would take for me to recover. Justin got it out of me after awhile, and he promised it would stay between us."

"I'm so sorry, Ernie," she shook her head sadly. "I…I didn't know. I said some things about you to Hannah around that time, that maybe you felt like you were too good for us or something."

"It's alright," he nodded in understanding. "It's my fault for not telling any of you to begin with. But let's not make this about me. You're not alone, you know. I'm positive those other girls are in the same boat as you are. Maybe you could use this as a chance to reconnect?"

"I don't know," she shook her head. "It's been so long. And I don't want to forget about Susan and Hannah!"

"They won't hold it against you, if that's what you're afraid of," he laughed. "If I remember correctly, they've actually been trying to persuade you to do so anyway."

"You're right about that," she agreed.

"So what do you say?"

"I'll think about it," she neutrally responded.


	4. A Hastings Always Wins

**Sorry for the lack of Spencer action in the last chapter! To make up for it, I will be starting with her individual storyline instead of Aria's, like they do in the show. And like the books, the chapters will be dedicated to different girls (unless they happen to come across each other) until they are officially reunited. Happy reading!**

**Same disclaimers apply.**

* * *

"I'm quite excited for Moody's class," Hermione Granger commented to Spencer Hastings as they exchanged schedules before first period.

"Me too," the youngest Hastings agreed. "What better way to learn Defense Against the Dark Arts than from a first-class auror?"

"I agree," Hermione nodded, before pausing to compose herself. "Spencer, I realized I haven't properly apologized for the way I acted when we were younger."

"Oh, don't worry about it," Spencer shook her head. "_I'm_ the overly-competitive one."

"No, but I must," the bushy-haired girl insisted. "It was very immature of me. I misjudged you, you know. I always thought your achievements came from your name and not your talent. But you've proven me wrong."

"I have?"

"Yes," Hermione nodded. "It's clear you're very driven; not just to impress your family, but yourself as well. That's quite admirable."

"Thanks," Spencer smiled. "You're brilliant yourself. Why weren't you sorted into Ravenclaw?"

"That's not the first time someone's asked me that. I almost was," she admitted. "But the Hat thought I'd be better off in Gryffindor. I suppose that was a good decision. I wouldn't have met Harry or Ron otherwise."

"You might have still," Spencer disagreed, "but they probably wouldn't have been your best friends."

"Of course. That's what I meant," she nodded.

But when Spencer Hastings stepped into Moody's classroom, her expectations couldn't have been more inaccurate. Not only was the class bigger than usual to include all four Houses, but he immediately rubbed off the wrong way.

"…I'm not supposed to teach you what illegal Dark curses look like until you're in the Sixth year…"

_Or perhaps you're not allowed to show them at all_, she mentally retorted, rolling her eyes at the rest of his rant about how they should "know how to defend themselves" and that wizards wouldn't play nice when casting a dark curse on them. As if her parents hadn't been instilling that in her since day one! She shook her head with a slight hollow laugh.

"Something funny over there?"

She jumped at being called out. "No," she shook her head casually. "I just admire your wit, that's all."

"Sure ye do," he answered with an eye-roll of his own. "Now, what do they look like?"

As her chocolate eyes anxiously followed his demonstrations of the "Unforgivable Three," as he liked to call them, she couldn't help but feel that there was something off about him. Auror or not, he shouldn't be exempt from the law, not even for "teaching purposes." She was certain there were other ways of defense against harmful curses and spells that were much safer and less exploitative in nature. Spencer made a mental note to research that in the library and bring it to Flitwick or Moody when she could.

Her thoughts were interrupted as Moody announced the day's activity: placing them under the Imperius Curse to teach them to fight it off.

The youngest Hastings balked from her seat. She was all for practical experience, but using dark magic on a student? Even the dimmest of wits could put two and two together that experimenting with an Unforgivable Curse (except for the fatal Avada Kedavra of course) was extremely risky, if not dangerous.

"But Sir," Spencer was relieved when Hermione spoke for her, "are you sure this is the proper way for us to learn about these Curses?"

"Wouldn't have it any other way, milady," he responded gruffly, tapping his walking stick on the ground and taking a swig out of an old flask.

"What a great example he's setting," the youngest Hastings muttered under her breath. "Drinking in front of _students_…"

"Hastings!" Spencer jumped at his sudden slur of her surname. "Watch your tongue. Wouldn't want me to tell yer father, now, would ye?"

"Excuse me?" Her nostrils flared angrily. "I don't believe that's a proper way to talk to a _student_!"

"And we have ourselves our first volunteer," Moody tapped his stick in glee as he nonverbally Imperiused her to the front of the room.

_So if this is how it's going to be_, Spencer mentally challenged him, _bring it on_.

"Don't speak too soon," he cackled. "_Imperio_."

Almost immediately, Spencer felt herself lose control over her limbs. _Oh no, you don't. I'm not going to let you get to me without a fight!_

"Now…_dance_!" he merrily commanded, bouncing his wand up and down slightly.

With every action comes an equal or opposite reaction, and Spencer did not disappoint. Her face scrunched in pain as she hugged her arms and legs as closely as she could to her body. But the stronger she resisted, the stronger he would penetrate her body.

"_Bow_!"

Spencer screamed as a bullet-like sensation shot through the back of her head, forcing her to bend over slightly. She tried pushing up with her lower back against the invisible force, but to no avail.

"Don't feel so strong now, do you?" Moody chuckled as he only strengthened his hold on her.

_A Hastings always wins_, she thought angrily to herself. _You will _not _humiliate me in front of my classmates! And you will most certainly _not _make a fool out of me! _

She summoned every bit of willpower she had to grab her wand out of her robe pocket and at her Professor.

"Finite!"

Her body collapsed, leaving her physically and emotionally drained in the middle of the room, but she looked up in shock to find that her counter-spell was strong enough to knock Moody off his feet and into the blackboard, resulting in a round of enthusiastic applause from her fellow classmates, grudging claps from Pansy Parkinson and her minions included.

"You," she breathed, pointing at her Professor, "are a _madman_. I don't care what credentials you might have; you are flat out _mad_ to perform an Unforgivable Curse on a student as a demonstration!"

"And you're the youngest person to date to have tried and succeeded," he breathed heavily before shakily grabbing his flask to have another drink.

_Alcoholic_.

"I think fifty points for Ravenclaw are in order."

Her eyes went wide in initial shock before let out a loud laugh and a tearful thank you. When she had lost her breath, she allowed herself to completely relax on the floor.

* * *

"Are you alright?"

Spencer squinted up to see a tall Gryffindor boy with light brown hair and clear blue eyes extending a hand to pull her up.

"A bit drained, that's all," she gratefully took his hand, smoothing out her robes and skirt once she was on both her feet. "It's Toby, right?"

"Yes. You should go to Madam Pomfrey," he suggested. "I've heard Dark Magic can have long-term effects on your head."

"I don't think it's too bad," she shook her head, giving it a slight rub near the nape of her neck.

"If anything happened, I wouldn't be able to live with myself for not making you go," Toby replied calmly with a kind smile.

"But I have Arithmancy in an hour!" she protested.

"I'm sure Professor Vector will understand. Now let's go."

"Fine," she sighed. "Let me just get my stuff together really quick."

As she reached over to place her book in her messenger bag, she frowned at a new addition sticking out like a bookmark in the front cover.

"That certainly wasn't there when I bought this," she frowned, sliding the piece of parchment out of her book.

_Poor Spencer, always having to prove yourself to everyone_. _Think today was tough? Wait till you get a piece of me. –A_

"Is this some kind of _joke_?" she yelled at the piece of parchment.

"Everything okay?" Toby called from the doorway.

"Yeah," she distantly replied, "let's go."

As Toby rambled on about how unethical and dangerous the lesson was, her mind had floated to the mysterious note in her book, and she consciously placed a hand on the piece of parchment she had crumpled at the bottom of her bag. She hoped this was just some silly Slytherin prank; but how could it, if the only person who really knew the extent of her issues was turning in her grave? One thing was for certain: if this was a sign of much more to come, it was going to be a _long year_.

* * *

**Yay, Spoby's first meeting! I love them so much as a couple; I can't wait to expand on their relationship more. I got the idea of Spencer fighting off the Imperius Curse from the scene in the book where Harry is the only one in the class that can do it. I thought I'd give her the honor of doing so for this story to give her a sense of empowerment and improve her self-concept in a way. To me, she's comes off as super confident and sure of herself, yet she's very fragile at the same time because of her family constantly undermining her talents and making her feel like everything is "gold or bust." Of course "A" had to come in and ruin her moment. But now that "A" is officially in the picture, that can only mean one thing, of course...**


	5. Self Acceptance and Good Night Kisses

**Same disclaimers as always! I tried to make this chapter a little longer to keep up with the overall longer length of the other chapters before the Spencer one. Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

Emily Fields scribbled furiously at her Transfiguration essay due in less than forty-eight hours; if she wanted to earn higher than an "Acceptable", she would have to start off on the right foot.

"I have faith in you, Miss Fields," McGonagall had told her the previous year. "If you were to put the same effort into my class that you do at the Quidditch pitch, I have no doubt you would receive an E, at the very least. I'm sure Miss Granger would be willing to lend a helping hand."

She shuddered at the thought of asking the resident brainiac for help with her grades, desiring to achieve it on her own accord. She sighed in frustration as an angry sandy-haired Seamus Finnegan stomped up to her at the Common Room table, interrupting her train of thought.

"Is something wrong, Seamus?" she looked up from her assignment.

"You broke his heart," he said in a low voice.

"Um, sorry?"

"You broke my best mate's heart, Fields," he continued in the same, low growl. "Let me get one thing straight with you. If you mess with my mates, you mess withme. Do you understand…?"

"Look," she stood up. "I don't know what he told you, but..."

"He told me enough," he declared angrily. "Enough for me to want to beat the livin' shit out of you for it. He's lifeless…like a Dementor sucked the livin' hell out of 'im…"

"Seamus," she stopped him, attempting to reason with him. "I know you're just being a good friend to him, but please believe me when I say I had no idea he would take it the way he has. I had to be honest with him. Better now than later." She paused for a moment to allow him to calm down. "Can you give him a message for me?"

"That depends," he shrugged. "What is it?"

"Tell him I'm sorry."

"Under one condition," he said.

"Which is?"

"That you'll talk to 'im after. Get 'im out of his rut. I dunno 'bout you, but I want my best friend back."

"I miss him too," she agreed.

"I'll tell 'im for you," Seamus promised the tall brunette. "Sorry for interruptin' ya. I'll leave you be now."

Keeping her end of the deal with Seamus, Emily ran to catch up with her friend the next day, spotting him outside of class for the first time since the term started. "Hey."

"Catch ye later, mate," Seamus Finnegan gave a small encouraging nod to Emily upon seeing her approaching and ran off to join Harry and Ron to give his friend some privacy.

"Wait…!" he called, but to no avail. He turned to Emily, his face faltering slightly. "Oh. Emily. It's you."

"Hey," she breathed. "Yes, it's me. Look, I just wanted to apologize for throwing that all on you the other night. It wasn't how I wanted to tell you, and it definitely wasn't fair to start off the year like that."

"I know. Seamus told me. Don't worry about it," he insisted. "Really, it's okay."

"No, it isn't," she shook her head. "I know I might not feel the same way about you the way you feel about me, but I don't want there to be any hard feelings between us." She bit her lip lightly before continuing. "Your friends miss you, you know. Don't beat yourself up over something you have no control over."

"Em, believe me when I say it's fine," he held up his hands. "But you have to understand that knowing I won't ever have a chance with you isn't exactly the easiest thing for me to process."

"Believe me, this is new territory for me, too," she said angrily. "I meant it when I said I really wanted to feel the same way about you. I cherished every moment we spent together – our Butterbeer dates at Hogsmeade, our middle-of-the-night adventures, snogging in abandoned classrooms, everything! But the more I tried, the more it didn't feel right. I can't help how I feel."

Dean was sure he was going to regret the next words that slipped out of his mouth, but he was too caught up in the moment to stop himself. "Then maybe you're not trying hard enough."

He turned on his heels toward his next class without giving her his usual hug, leaving her stunned and hurt more than ever.

"He's a strong kid. He'll come around," Toby came up next to her, placing an arm around her shoulder.

"Did he mean what he said?" Emily asked, fresh tears streaming down her cheeks. "Am I not trying hard enough?"

"You are one of the kindest, most caring people I know," he said firmly. "Anyone who doesn't see that doesn't deserve you. But he still cares about you, though. He was just angry. He's not used to being rejected; it's not easy for him."

"It's not easy for _anyone_," she corrected him.

"Sorry," Toby remembered her past with Alison. "I didn't mean it like that…"

"It's okay. I'd have to get over it _sometime_, wouldn't I?" she sighed dejectedly.

_"Hey, Emily. Could I talk to you for a minute?"_

_ Emily turned and looked up, surprised to see her ex-girlfriend in front of her since Alison hadn't bothered trying to get her back after she left._

_ "Sure," Emily shrugged nonchalantly, trying to bury her hurt feelings to listen._

_ "I know what I did was awful, leading you on like that," Alison said in a, surprisingly to Emily, genuine tone._

_ "It took you that long to realize that?" the dark-haired girl did her best not to cry. Those days were over; she had moved on. "We haven't talked in a month, Ali. And you had plenty of opportunities. I was done. And I still am."_

_ "I'm not here to get you back, Em," she shook her head sadly. "Though there was never really an 'us' to begin with."_

"I really thought she loved me," Emily sniffed.

"It was wrong of her to lead you on like that in the first place," he pointed out. "Alison was lucky you stuck around as long as you did."

"It's just hard, with Dean and all. It's not some light switch I can turn on and off just like that, even if I want to. In fact, it would make things so much easier."

Toby had no idea what a light switch was, but he went along with it anyway. "Taking the easy way out is never the answer. It's not easy at first, and it doesn't happen overnight. But when it does, you won't want to turn back."

His words bore into her brain for the rest of the night. _It doesn't happen overnight…when it does, you won't want to turn back_.

When the students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang arrived that night at the Dinner feast, she was immediately mesmerized by the Beauxbatons girls' detailed acrobatic entrance. Girls and guys alike marveled in the beauty of the two blonde-haired, blue-grey eyed leaders of the pack, along with the other beautiful blondes that pranced and pirouetted in front of the Great Hall in perfect sync, but Emily's eyes were drawn to a caramel-skinned brunette in the dead center that stood out among the rest.

Her heart rate sped up as she took in her breathtaking beauty; perfectly tanned skin, luscious wavy locks, a perfect ballerina body, and full, mulberry-colored lips.

Emily's pupils dilated as they locked eyes briefly before everyone burst into thunderous applause.

* * *

"Hey girl!"

Emily turned around in surprise to see none other than the girl she had been so mesmerized by during the opening ceremony. "Hi," she began uncertainly.

"Maya," she said with a surprisingly American accent, extending a hand for her to shake. "Maya St. Germain. You are?"

"I'm Emily," she smiled, returning the shake. "Emily Fields."

"British, huh?"

"Born and raised," the Gryffindor said with a proud nod. "And you're…American. But you go to Beauxbatons?"

"My family and I relocated three months ago for my dad's job," she explained, "so yes, my accent is still American. Yours is beautiful."

"Really? It's nothing special. Everyone talks like this around here," she shrugged. "Well, it varies, I suppose, with different parts of Britain, but the basic sound is still there."

"Trust me," laughed Maya. "Americans _die _when they hear a British accent."

"So, um…are you dead yet?" teased Emily with a slight giggle.

"Getting there," the French-American girl smirked. "I gotta go. Madame Maxime wants us all to get some rest. It's been a long day for us."

"Understandable," Emily agreed. "I'll see you around?"

"Of course! That's not even a question." Maya reached up to plant good-night kisses on both her cheeks.

"Oh. Um, thanks," she answered awkwardly, not used to the gesture.

"You guys don't kiss each other that much around here, do you?"

"Not unless we're dating or they're family," she shook her head with a toothless smile.

"I see. We'll work on that."

Emily gasped slightly as Maya threw her a very Alison-like smirk, complete with an Alison-like hair flip on her way out with the rest of her female classmates. _This is too good to be true, _she thought to herself.

She pinched herself to make sure she wasn't dreaming before catching up to Toby on the way back to the Gryffindor Tower.

"I see you made a new friend," he commented, sitting next to her in front of the fire.

"Her name's Maya," she said, holding her scarlet blanket to her chest. "She's originally from America but she moved to France a few months ago."

"Maya, eh? That's a cool name. Definitely American," he added.

"It was so weird, she reminded me of Alison in some ways."

"Good way or bad way?"

"Just imagine all the good parts of Ali combined in one," she smiled softly as a rosy pink blush slowly formed on her round cheeks.

"I take it you enjoy her company?" he asked.

"It's too soon to tell," she neutrally responded. After what had happened with Alison, she wasn't about to make the same mistake again and fall for someone as easily as she did. "But she was really nice."

Emily stayed up for a few more minutes after Toby had resigned to his bed, contemplating everything that had happened that day; her drama with Dean, coming to terms with everything, and…_Maya_. Despite everything, the one thing that stuck out most in her mind was an American girl she'd locked eyes with for no more than a few seconds.

She snapped out of her daze when she noticed the fire shift into a silhouette of a familiar, smiling, heart-shaped face with long, flowing blond hair.

"_Alison_?" she whispered, reaching her hand toward the fire.

As her hand came closer to the fire, Alison's silhouette suddenly burst into flames, replaced by letters that slowly rearranged themselves into a horrifying message.

_Found another one already, Em? Looks like I underestimated you after all! –A_

* * *

**So lots of Emily action in this chapter! I will say ahead of time that Dean will not turn into an asshole the way Ben did, but he is still understandably frustrated about Emily not being able to return his feelings. He'll come around soon. And Emily feels absolutely horrible about how she's affected him, to the point of wanting to hide who she is so that things can be okay again, which I think is a totally relatable story for anybody, regardless of sexuality. And Maya makes her first appearance! Do you like what I'm doing with her character? I hope I'm getting her character right so far. I really love how they did Emily and Maya's storyline on the show, so I will try to do them justice. And for all you Emaya shippers, good news: Maya is here to stay! She might not be around all the time, but she won't die. And in true PLL-fashion, "A" has now entered Emily's life now.**

**On another note, I'm not sure how accurate I am about the British accents bit. I read somewhere that they can differ from region to region and even within a matter of minutes from each other! So if any British people are reading this, please tell me if this is correct! **

**Thoughts, anyone? Who would you like to see me do next, Hanna or Aria?**


	6. Shakespeare, Queen, and a Guitar

**Sorry for updating slower than usual! I'm going back to college in a few days, and I've been especially busy making sure I'm still stocked up for the year. First off, a special shout-out to Skydiver318 for taking time to review every chapter thus far! I can't thank you enough! With that said, it'd also be nice to hear from others too, so I get more perspectives. Anyway, here is an Aria chapter for you all! **

**Same disclaimers, plus a new one: I do not own Romeo and Juliet, nor do I own Bohemian Rhapsody or Another one Bites the Dust! Enjoy!**

* * *

"If I profane with my unworthiest hand; This holy shrine, the gentle fine is this: My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand; To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss," Noel read, before passing it to Aria Montgomery, who gave him a sultry smile before reading the next lines.

"Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much, Which mannerly devotion shows in this; For saints have hands that pilgrims' hands do touch, And palm to palm is holy palmers' kiss," Aria returned. She looked up from the book. "Did I ever tell you how I was named after Juliet?"

"I believe your name is Aria," he raised his eyebrows, "not Juliet. Unless I'm missing something here."

"Juliet is my middle name," she laughed. "My dad chose it. He teaches Literature at Oxford."

"I'm impressed," his mouth twitched into a slightly lopsided smile.

"I believe it's your turn, Mr. Montague," she teased, handing him the gently used volume of Shakespeare's works.

"Yes, Mistress Capulet," he replied in a similar playful tone.

They continued reading back and forth with exaggerated, medieval voices and giggles.

"How did you know I like Shakespeare?" she asked curiously.

"I've always taken you for a Shakespeare kind of girl," he admitted. "When I first met you, you've always struck me as someone who marched to their own beat." With those words, he leaned in to engage her in a long, passionate kiss.

"You kiss by the book," Aria smirked, breaking the kiss briefly.

"Give me my sin again," he returned her smirk with one of his own as she leaned in to continue their passionate snog.

By the time they realized they were no longer alone in the Ravenclaw common room, they had successfully knocked over the study chairs and bumped into the dark wooden table.

"That's gonna leave a bruise," the short brunette grimaced quietly as they slowly got up to see who had joined them in the living room.

"You again," Noel growled slightly at the sight of the Prefect that had nearly taken House points from them at the start-of-term feast.

"I heard something crashing," he replied. "I thought I'd see what was the matter. But I'll have you know curfew ended two hours ago."

"I'm sorry…" Aria paused to recall whether or not he had given his name.

"Ezra," he finished for her.

"Ezra," she repeated. "Sorry for causing a disturbance, though I thought curfew only applies to being outside the Common Room."

Ezra grumbled internally, realizing the girl was right. They _hadn't _been breaking any rules, much to his chagrin, but he couldn't stand her significant other, and that carried through to his outward appearance.

"Aria's right, _Ezra_," Noel stood to his full height and marched up to the Prefect. "We're following the rules _just fine_."

"You're right," he answered tightly. "You're absolutely right. Just keep it down for the rest of the night, will you?" Ezra shot an annoyed look at the blue-eyed fourth-year as he retreated back to his dormitory.

"He can't seem to leave us alone, can he?" Noel glared after him.

"He was just doing his job," Aria defended him quickly. "We had nothing to worry about. At least he caught us here and not at the top of the Astronomy Tower."

"We need to go back there again," Noel grinned.

"What if we went now?" Aria grinned, feeling like a Gryffindor with her sudden urge to sneak out.

"That's bloody _brilliant_," his eyes lit up. "And I know just the thing we can do. Grab your robe meet me back here."

Aria quickly tiptoed back into the dormitory, careful not to wake Spencer Hastings, who had a tendency to be a light sleeper. She creaked open her vintage-trimmed trunk to retrieve her wand, robe and black and white sneakers while slipping on a pair of bright-colored socks and tiptoeing back out.

She raised her thick dark eyebrows in awe at Noel's acoustic guitar in his hand. "No way," she chuckled with a disbelieving smile.

"I hope you like Queen," he smirked as Aria quickly tied her shoes and clipped on her robe over her plaid flannel pajamas.

"You know me too well," she smiled, following him out of the Common Room.

* * *

"I wish the Wizarding world had more musical variety," Aria sighed as they reached the top of the Astronomy Tower.

"Tell me about it," he agreed. "Don't get me wrong, the Weird Sisters have some great songs and all, but they're the _only _band we have. Muggles have a _wicked _music scene if you ask me."

"I agree," Aria nodded as they leaned on the balcony, staring up at the stars. "They should allow older students at the very least to come up here outside of class every now and then. This view is _breathtaking."_ She smiled at the moon's reflection on the Black Lake and gasped in wonder at mermaid-like creatures that had jumped out of the water.

"I heard they tend to come out at night," he added thoughtfully before sitting down with his guitar. "So you said you like Queen, right?"

"Yeah. My dad would play their records all the time, so you could say I grew up listening to them."

"Awesome," he smiled. "Care to sing along?"

After singing the introduction a cappella Noel plucked the intro to "Bohemian Rhapsody," her eyes grew wide at his silky, baritone vocals and immediately chimed in on the next verse. She would've joined in the next verse, but her alto voice couldn't handle the high range.

"Mama," she sang, "who killed a man…put a gun against his head, pulled my trigger now he's dead…mama…life has just begun," she inhaled slightly, "but now I've gone and thrown it all awayyy…"

They sang the next few verses together until the operatic bridge in the middle, when Noel jumped into the guitar riffs for "Another One Bites the Dust."

"If only I brought my bass," he said, intricately plucking the strings for the guitar melody.

"You're doing just fine on the guitar, if you ask me," she shrugged, grooving her shoulders up and down to the beat, singing as long as she could until she gradually fell over into his arms, to which he lovingly wrapped his robe around her to keep her warm. He looked around to make sure nobody had heard their private music jam before drifting off to sleep himself.

* * *

Aria groggily awoke the next morning to a warm chest and perfectly chiseled abdominals. She smiled as she snuggled up to his chest, noting that he was still fast asleep. Despite this, he seemed to sense her movements and only held her closer, causing her to sigh contentedly.

"We need to do this more often," she sighed, grabbing hold of his white PJ t-shirt. She wondered how he had managed to sleep in such a thin shirt, but she didn't question it, as she noticed the outline of his toned chest peeking through it.

"I agree," he yawned, rubbing the back of his head. "But I say we bring a pillow next time."

"I was comfortable," Aria shrugged with a flirty smile.

"Of course you were," Noel planted a kiss on her lips. "We should probably get back before _Ezra_ finds another excuse to call us out again."

"Says the one who wants to become a Prefect," she teased.

* * *

Everyone was already eagerly enjoying their breakfasts by the time they finally made it down to the Great Hall.

"Looks like everyone decided to get up early today," Aria commented, sitting down across from Noel and next to Spencer.

"Or maybe someone decided to sleep in," Spencer teased, looking back and forth between the two before Noel launched into his usual morning discussion with Terry Boot.

As she picked up a cranberry scone, she noticed a plain white envelope with her name written in magenta-colored ink. _That's odd. I don't think the mail's arrived yet._

She looked around in confirmation; nobody had gotten their mail yet either. She cast it off to the side to dig into her breakfast, but not before her scone turned to ashes in her mouth, causing her to spit it out in a coughing fit. _What on earth,_ her hand covered her mouth in horror as everything she touched suddenly turned to ashes, from her utensils to her goblet to her plate.

"Are you okay, Aria?" Noel looked on in concern.

She nodded, unable to speak as the letter opened itself automatically before her once Noel had turned back around.

Her eyes went wide as a moving picture of her and Noel singing atop the Astronomy Tower last night lay before her, but her eyes were especially drawn to the caption.

"Aria?" Spencer had now focused her attention on the small brunette, whose eyes were locked in a trance onto a seemingly blank piece of paper. "What's going on?"

_Spotted! Ravenclaw's resident blood-traitors frolicking at the top of the Astronomy Tower. Thanks for the music, sweetie! –A_

* * *

**So I don't have too much to say about this chapter, other than the fact that I paid tribute to the Aria/Noel scene from 1x09, and I decided to make Ezra a Prefect for now and only two years older than Aria as opposed to 4 or 5 to make it easier to insert him into the story. I also paid tribute to the Ezra/Noel rivalry from Season 1 with the Ezra scene (yes, Skydiver318 you guessed correctly about the Prefect being Ezra). Since Hogwarts isn't Rosewood, I've had to modify the plotlines a little, so there will be twists to this storyline as well as the others. I'll be busy again for the next few days, but I'll try to get the next one up ASAP! Thanks everyone for sticking with me!**


	7. Author's Note

Hello everyone!

I just want to apologize for not having updated this sooner! I had the next chapter written, but my laptop got stolen from my dorm a couple weeks ago and I only recently got a new one so I'll have to start the next chapter over from scratch. Thankfully I won't have to start the entire story over, but I still have to install Microsoft Office on my laptop, so it might take awhile for the next chapter to get up. I don't usually do authors notes, but I thought I should do one for this to let y'all know I haven't forgotten about the story. I'll try to have the next chapter up soon.

Thank you all so much for your patience and support! Love you all! xoxo


	8. Small Worlds and Reacquaintances

Hey everyone! I am so, so sorry that took longer than I promised! I've been busy trying to keep up with my classes this semester that I haven't had too much time to just sit down and write. I was also having a bit of a writers' block, but it's all good now! This is the last chapter before the girls finally reunite for the first time since Alison's disappearance, so enjoy! **Same disclaimers as always!**

* * *

"Oh my god," Hannah Abbott came rushing into the Hufflepuff girls' fourth-year dormitory.

"Hannah!" Hanna turned on her side, squinting her eyes as the bubbly blond pigtailed girl gleefully opened the blinds. "What time is it?"

"Only seven-thirty," she giggled.

"It's _Friday_!" Susan glared at her.

"Did you forget we have class today, Su?" Hannah flipped one of her pigtails, which had evolved into French braids, much to Hanna's and Susan's relief.

"I wish we didn't," Hanna groaned. "But what are you so excited about, anyway?"

"Apparently there's a new student," Hannah squealed excitedly. "Even Eloise is going on about it! He must _really _be hot."

"Hannah!" Susan glared at her friend. "That's rather rude of you."

"But don't you agree?" she said.

"You make her seem like she has bad taste," the long-haired redhead said bluntly.

"But um…she never pays attention to anybody…"

"I didn't know they allowed that," Hanna, eager to change the subject, interjected.

"They seem to allow lots of things now with this stupid Triwizard thing," the redhead quipped as she groggily stumbled out of bed and reached in her trunk for her black and yellow robe. "Like letting Potter compete in a _tri-_wizard tournament. Do they not know how to count?"

"Hey!" Abbott defended him. "At least he's good looking!"

"Please," Susan rolled his eyes. "We all know you've had the hots for him since second-year."

"Too bad he only had eyes for Dilaurentis," Hannah Abbott grumbled to herself.

"_Everyone _had eyes for her," Hanna said thoughtfully. "Am I the only one who thinks he was bad-arse for scaring off that snake from Justin? I don't care what Ernie says, but Potter _saved _him."

"Chill _out, _Hannah," Ernie stood in the girls' doorway. "Potter and I are good now."

"Yeah?" Hanna came to her fellow blonde's defense. "Then why are you still wearing a 'Potter Stinks' badge?"

"Well…I…I…" the formerly pudgy boy stuttered. "Just being loyal, I suppose. It's not _all _bad. Look," he handed her a pin with words that slowly swirled transfigured to read "Support Cedric Diggory!"

"You are going to have to pay me a _million _galleons to ever get me to wear that," Hannah raised her eyebrows. "Sorry, Ernie, but _I _don't support hate." She turned back to the former friend of Alison Dilaurentis. "So where were we, Han? Before Ernie so gracefully interrupted us…"

"I'll have you know that I just happened to be walking by!" he retorted indignantly. "Good day to you all."

"Pompous as ever," Susan shook her head as he finally left them alone. "But enough getting the attention off you, Marin. Have you fixed things with those other girls?"

"When will you lot _stop _getting on my arse about that?" she complained as she fixed her black and gold tie in front of the long mirror.

"You're not being fair," Hannah pointed out. "Did they treat you poorly after you broke things off with Dilaurentis?"

"Gosh, Hannah, you're making it sound like they were romantic," the redhead giggled.

"Emily and Ali were, actually, now that you mention it," Hanna shrugged.

"I knew it!" the pigtailed girl to her right gasped. "I saw them together _all the time_! I mean, they were adorable, of course, but I never expected…"

"The rest of us were disposable to her during their 'relationship'," Hanna said bitterly as they finally made it out of the Hufflepuff corridor.

* * *

"Okay, class," Professor Sprout stood on a stool above the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff fourth-years as Hannah, Hanna and Susan sulked in the corner at having missed breakfast. "I normally don't like wasting time in class…"

"Ugh, my stomach," Hannah Abbott moaned, placing a hand tenderly over her middle.

"Serves you right," Susan glared at her.

"Serves us _all _right," Hanna came between the two before focusing her attention on their Head of House.

"I would like to take a moment to introduce a new student among us today," the greying-haired professor announced with a warm smile. "Due to unforeseeable circumstances, he will be graduating with your class in three years; class, please welcome Caleb Rivers." She gestured to a slightly muscular teen with shoulder-length dark hair sitting with Harry and Ron at a group table near the front of the room.

"It can't be," the three Hufflepuffs said at once.

"The Caleb from the Muggle mall?" Hanna whispered frantically, quickly running her hands to her hair to make sure her hair was in all place.

"Impossible," the other blonde shook her head in disbelief. "Shouldn't he have been able to tell we weren't Muggles?"

"He's probably used to getting a lot of people like us," Susan assured them. "Muggle or not."

"Go talk to him, Hanna," Hannah suggested.

"You do it," Hanna shook her head, suddenly turning red.

"I've already had my turn," she smirked. "And I doubt Susie's going to do it for you…"

"You can bet on it I won't. He's not my type, anyway."

"Fine," she sighed. "When?"

"Everyone into groups of four, please!" Sprout called. "We're collecting pus today."

"Pus?!" Ron Weasley yelled in protest.

"Couldn't we do something else, Professor?" Ernie Macmillan asked pleadingly. "Maybe we could ease our new classmate into the swing of things more easily?"

"It's alright," he shook his head, laughing slightly. "This is technically my fifth year. I did this all last year."

"Oh," the blond-haired boy backed down in embarrassment.

"Now would be good," Hannah smiled sweetly. "Sprout said groups of _four_." She ended with a wink. "There's three of us right now, so that means there's room for…let's see…one more?"

"I know how to count, Han," Hanna laughed. "I may not be top of our class, but I _can _count." She got up and tripped on her way to Caleb, Harry and Ron, who tried not to burst into laughter; unfortunately for her, Harry was better at suppressing his snicker than his best friend, or Caleb for that matter.

"Are you the one they called Hefty Hanna?" Ron asked curiously.

"Whoa, mate," Caleb jumped slightly in surprise. "That's a bit harsh, don't you think?" He held out a hand to Hanna, who took it with an awkward giggle. "Sorry."

"It's nothing," she looked down at the floor shyly.

"In his defense, though, he didn't mean it like that," Harry added. "He was just curious. He's a bit…awkward…as you can tell."

"Thanks, mate!" Ron said sarcastically, his face turning redder than Susan Bones' hair.

"But to answer your question, yes I'm Hefty Hanna," she said proudly. "I used to be ashamed of it, but now I figured I should embrace it. I prefer just 'Hanna' though, if you don't mind."

"So what did you trip on your way over here for?" Caleb asked curiously.

"Um," Hanna could feel herself blushing, "Iwantedtoinviteyoutoourgroup ."

"Sorry?" he furrowed his dark eyebrows slightly.

"Be in our group?" she repeated more slowly with an awkward giggle.

"Oh," he scratched the back of his head. "Um…Potter and Weasley here beat you to it. Sorry."

"Of course," she swallowed, mortified at having embarrassed herself for nothing. "Erm…I'll get back to my table now before Sprout gets mad."

"_Mad_? She hardly ever gets _mad_," he laughed, "but alright."

* * *

"Hanna?"

"Emily!" Hanna turned, pleasantly surprised to see her former best friend coming over to greet her after class.

"How have you been?" Emily asked eagerly.

"Great!" she said with a genuine smile. "What about you?"

"I've been better," Emily said.

"Oh," Hanna remembered. "I'm sorry, I forgot…"

"No worries," she smiled. "You should come hang out with us again. We were just talking about you the other day."

"We?"

"Aria, Spencer and I," she clarified.

"Oh." Her mouth formed a perfectly round O. "How are they?"

"They're great, too," she said. "Spencer's top of the class again, Aria and Noel are still going strong, though there's a rumor going around that some older guy has a crush on her…" Emily proceeded to stifle a giggle.

"Really?" Hanna couldn't help but giggle along with the tan, half-Filipina. "Who?"

"I forget his name," she waved her hand. "But I'll see you around, right?"

"Of course," she nodded with a wistful smile.

* * *

"Miss Hanna! Miss Hanna!" Winky greeted the girl as she plopped down at her favorite table in the kitchen. "You have a package!"

"A package?" she laughed. "From who?"

"Winky doesn't know," the little pink house elf shook her head. "But it has your name on it."

"That it does," she agreed, hesitantly taking the package. _Weird_, she thought.

"Open it!" the elf said, almost too excitedly.

"I will," she nodded, slowly lifting the cover of the magenta box. She quickly grinned at the smell of her favorite treat, but once she read the note that came with it, she wished she hadn't accepted it.

_You think you can hide who you are from everyone else, but don't worry, sweetie. I'll NEVER forget the REAL you! Happy eating! XOXO_

Hanna's happy grin turned stark white as she stared in a mixture of shock and confusion at the menacing letter A the mini treacle tarts formed in the box.

* * *

Looks like A is on the hunt now! Aww, aren't Hanna and Caleb adorable? I was really looking forward to writing that Hanna/Caleb scene. For this story, Caleb is a year older than the girls; you'll find out more about why he got held back later. And I managed to throw in a little Harry and Ron in there, since some of you wanted to see them in the story more. I'll work on getting them in more scenes in the future. Updating might take a little slower since I'm in school, but I'll try to update faster for the next one. Thanks for sticking with me!


	9. Four Friends and a Funeral

**Same disclaimers as always!**

* * *

"Aria Montgomery and Spencer Hastings," Professor McGonagall interrupted their double Charms class with the Slytherins with a stern look on her face. "The Headmaster wishes to see you both."

"With all due respect, Professor," Spencer said, "Professor Flitwick is going over concepts for our midterm next week. Can it not wait?"

"I'm sure Filius can make the proper adjustments," she assured the youngest Hastings. "And no, this cannot wait. You and Miss Montgomery are to report to the Headmaster immediately."

"Why does Dumbledore want to see us?" Aria asked confusedly. "We haven't done anything wrong."

"Beats me," she shrugged. "But the Headmaster never calls anyone to his office unless it was really important, so…it must be, right?"

"Sure," Aria nodded off, making a mental note to get the Charms notes from Noel later.

"Phoenix feather," McGonagall stated in a manner that made both Ravenclaws jump; they had forgotten that McGonagall was behind them.

* * *

"Ah, Miss Montgomery, Miss Hastings," Dumbledore's kind smile greeted them both as they stepped foot in his office.

"Professor," Spencer, ever the professional, nodded.

"You two may have a seat here next to Miss Fields and Miss Marin."

The two girls looked down at their old friends, pleasantly surprised.

"I told you, Professor," Emily spoke up. "We haven't done anything wrong…"

"I never said you did," he said calmly as he took a sip of pumpkin juice from his golden goblet. "You're all probably wondering why I brought you here, am I not correct?"

The four girls exchanged apprehensive glances before nodding.

"I'm sure the four of you remember Mrs. Dilaurentis," he continued.

Aria furrowed her dark, thick eyebrows in confusion. "Yes, but we haven't spoken to her in over a year, nor did we get to know her well. We only went to Ali's house once."

"The night she went missing," Emily added.

"Nevertheless," Dumbledore opened a drawer underneath his desk and retrieved four envelopes addressed to them. "It would mean a lot to her mother if you attended the funeral."

"Why would we want to do that?" Hanna spoke for the first time.

"I'm aware that her attitude was…questionable…at times, but you all meant a lot to her," Dumbledore did not break his calm demeanor at the lone blonde's slightly aggressive tone, "and her family. Before Hogwarts, Alison Dilaurentis was not blessed with many friends. The four of you changed that. You were the best friends she's ever had."

"That's likely," Hanna scowled, folding her arms tightly across her chest.

"Now," the Headmaster continued, ignoring Hanna. "If you wish to go, a carriage is waiting outside the castle to escort you to the Hogwarts Express. I have spoken with your professors, and they have all deemed this a suitable excuse for you to miss your classes for the time being."

"Even Professor Snape?" Spencer was surprised.

"Even Professor Snape," Dumbledore nodded. "You'd be surprised at his capacity for love and loyalty should the time come. So what will it be?"

"Could we possibly have a moment alone to decide, Professor?" Spencer asked, looking at the girls, who nodded in agreement.

"Of course. I will retreat to my headquarters. Take all the time you need to decide."

* * *

"Ali's funeral?" Emily asked. "She died three months ago. Shouldn't they have had the funeral as soon as possible?"

"If Mrs. Dilaurentis is anything like Ali, she probably wanted it to be big," Aria said thoughtfully, "and was probably planning it this whole time."

"Not that I don't want to pay my respects, but why now?" Spencer wondered. "Why couldn't she have waited till break? Midterms start soon, and I want as much time as possible to study…"

"There are more important things to do than ace everything all the time," Emily said, insulted that someone could prioritize studies over their dead best friend. "I'm in. Who's with me?"

"You're right," Spencer conceded. "I'm in, too."

"It wouldn't sit right with me if I didn't," Aria agreed.

"Hanna?" Emily turned to her left.

Hanna twitched her lips to the side in a scowl before looking up at the other three girls. "But what are we going to wear?"

* * *

"I wasn't invited?" Noel raised his eyebrows in mock surprise when Aria broke the news to him.

"You won't see me for _two whole days_," Aria went along with it. "The world is ending, I know."

She pulled him in for a passionate kiss on the lips.

"Get a room, guys," Spencer rolled her eyes, smiling and shaking her head.

"Says the one who makes out with Toby Cavanaugh in the hidden crook near Trelawney's Divination classroom," Aria gave her friend a teasing smirk.

"You and Cavanaugh, eh?" Aria's brown-haired, blue-eyed beau raised his eyebrows again.

"Is there a problem with that?" Spencer challenged.

"No, not at all," he shook his head, realizing how he came across. "It's just, I thought that he and Jenna Marshall were…you know…_involved_, that's all."

"Him and his _stepsister_?" Spencer screeched. "Can you say _gross_?"

"Hey, I'm not arguing with you," he put his hands in the air in defeat. "Just telling you not to get your hopes up, that's all."

"Noel!" Aria said, shocked.

"Ugh, you're _pathetic_." Spencer stormed up to the fourth-year girls' dormitory.

Aria glared at her boyfriend before looking toward the direction Spencer had gone.

"What?!" he looked at her innocently.

"Was that really necessary?" she crossed her arms.

"They're not related by blood, Cavanaugh and Marshall. And I've heard Marshall can be a tough one."

"And you'd know this how?" Aria narrowed her eyes in jealousy.

"Terry Boot snogged her in a broom closet the other day," he shrugged. "Apparently she 'told all.'"

"Whatever," Aria sighed, "I guess my point was, it was never any of your business to begin with." And with that, she went to check on Spencer.

* * *

"Where are you headed off?" Dean Thomas looked up from McGonagall's nasty four-foot essay to find Emily Fields carrying a medium-sized travel bag on her way out.

"Ali's funeral," she said stiffly. She stretched her neck slightly to see what Dean was working on. "McGonagall's essay?"

"Unfortunately," he nodded before sighing. "How're you doing?"

"Alright, I suppose," she shrugged.

"You, um, seeing any girls?"

"No," she laughed a little, shaking her head. "Nobody's really caught my eye yet."

"I see." He bit his lip lightly. "I'm sorry."

"What for?"

"For how I handled…us."

She was about to ask him to clarify before he added, "Our relationship…as friends."

"Dean," she walked over to take his hand in hers, "how many times do I have to tell you it's not your fault?"

"I know, but I'll always feel raw about it," he admitted. "I miss you."

"I've always been here," she assured him, "and I always will be."

"So does this mean we can grab some butterbeer when you get back?"

"I could use one of those," her lips turned upward in a small smile, exiting the Gryffindor tower.

* * *

**First off, I'd like to apologize for not updating; I had a rough semester at school, and this story was the last thing that was on my mind. It took me a bit to remember where I'd left off, and I didn't include Hanna's storyline in this chapter since I did the last chapter on hers. I hope y'all enjoyed this, and to those of you that have followed me since Pretty Little Witches, I'm back! I totally understand if you lost interest in the story (I don't blame you, it's been months!), but hopefully you're still with me. And as for new readers, hi! Thank you so much for reading!**


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